COMMENTS AND RESPONSES

Joe… I didn't feel as if you'd done anything beyond the pail, and we're good, guy. I was merely trying to illustrate that, up to this point, the creators of Lost have made it rather clear that Linus is not a chosen one in the vein of, say, a Jack Shepherd (and that the actions of Linus couldn’t truly be compared to those of David’s). Still, no offense was taken in relation to your comments. I'm only concerned with you enabling a certain someone else. Speaking of which...

Kara S… just so you know, I wasn't angry, at all. I merely struggled to understand how you found David's shame relevant to a discussion about his battle with Goliath years earlier. The comment still reeks of a cheap shot against something in which you don't believe, but maybe you had a different point in there. Somewhere. Whatever the case, it read as if it came from Jack Shepherd's dialog in the first two seasons of Lost. But without his good intentions. And without his leadership. Or his intellect. Yes, we're all adults... and old enough to admit when we're either wrong or out of line. Whether we're adult enough to do so is obviously another matter. But, really... you would actually reference being an "adult" in the same post you insist you "won't apologize" when an apology wasn't requested? Priceless. Whatever the case, to each their own... and more power to ya', sister.

Hobbs... you've hit on a few different things with the entire Ben/ Principal/Alex dilemma. I didn't think the timing of the main AP European History exam matched-up with the admissions application deadline at any of the Ivy league schools (which effectively compromises the tension in the situation), but I just opted to let that go and enjoy the episode. Nevermind the fact that Linus could've avoided the tension by simply confronting the Principal after the letter of recommendation was sent. However, these details weren't essential to the story, so I just let them go. After all, this episode allowed us to see "old Jack" return, "old Miles" resurface and Ilana to become relevant... so what's not to like about it? Except the cryptic responses of characters such as Alpert, of course... :-)

Deejay, glad to hear everything is cool... I assumed it was, but whenever any conversation turns to politics or religion, there's always a risk of things turning ugly.

I don't want to put a ban on any topics, because based on the comments by the LOST fans here, I consider everyone who contributes - especially on a regular basis to be a well-thought out individual. Good to know all is cool.

Actually, I have some things in common with the Jack Shepard of the first two seasons. Like him, I am a person of science, not of faith. But I'm less annoying and I don't sink into a pit of depression and self pity the way Jack does.

I sure hope Jack doesn't become the guardian of the island because Jack has lousy judgement and makes a lot of bad choices. Based on past performance, if I had to choose a guardian of the island from the listed candidates I'd choose Sun. She has a logical mind and doesn't seem to make important decisions based on emotion or whim. My second choice would be Sawyer who also thinks rationally and plans ahead. He'd be my first choice if his motives weren't suspect.

I still want to know how it seemed like Ben was able to "release" smokey to avenge his daughter's death. Did it have anything to do with "rules" being broken? Is it possible there is more than one smokey?

Kara S, I think it's possible Jack could make the complete transition to competent island guardian, but I agree with you, Sawyer has already proven himself to have the right stuff.

twomcs, I don't know who the little boy is but here's my idea....

TO EVERYONE,

I think that little blonde boy in the woods a couple episdoes ago could have been a time-traveling Aaron. I do have a theory that Jacob will reincarnate himself through Aaron. I admit I haven't given it a ton of thought, but if MIB can "come to life" through the dead body of a person, the oppsosite of that, or mirror image if you will, woulld be Jacob re-entering through with childbirth. That is my guess as to why Aaron is so important to this story, why he couldn't leave the island, why he needed to be born on the island, and why SLU Claire is still pregnant. (Jacob could still re-enter if the SLUers, or at least a pregnant Claire land on the island.)

ALSO

If Sawyer really is playing a long con on Smlocke, and I hope he is, would there be a mirror conspiracy in Camp Jacob? If so, would that make Jack a man who is planning on effing up Jacob's plan? Jack is kind of the mirror Sawyer in many ways.

I realize it's late in the week, and I will respost these theories in this week's main article since I suspect these comment boxes get very little traffic by the time Sunday rolls around. Curious to hear what you guys have to say about these thoughts....

hmm....Joe you've spawned a thought in my head with the time traveling aaron thing. always have figured aaron was important, but never really had a solid idea as to why so bear with me here.

now way back in Claire flashbacks, we've seen it said that it was very very important that Claire was the one to raise the baby. When pychic dude fails to convince her, he talks her into giving up the baby to adoption. Now, I've always figured this was a setup and the pychic dude knew 815 was going to crash. I don't recall if they made that clear or not though.

Anyway, so in "known" reality, 815 crashes, Aaron is born, Kate takes Aaron and he's not raised by Claire. In SLU, Aaron is currently not born and seemingly going to be raised by Claire since the adoption isn't happening.

Is it possible, that all along Aaron was meant to be Jacob's replacement....and/or new "host?" That when Claire didn't opt to raise him and protect him, Jacob set into motion all the events we've seen, and everything he had to to attempt to counteract smokey. And that perhaps the "incident" was set into motion to create the SLU and a universe where Aaron was raised as he should be by Claire to enable said "hosting" as was originally intended/needed?

Seriously, though I could see your theory on MiB=death / Jacob=life panning out in at least some form. However, I'm not sold on Sawyer necessarily playing a long con on Smlocke. I think it's more along the lines of Sawyer biding his time until he figures out what is going on and then choosing sides for real. (Of course, I guess one could argue that's what a long con is, I suppose.)

Joe, time-travelling Aaron is a good a theory as any to explain Rules-of-the-Island Boy, as I like to call him. But if so, is all this "candidate" business just for a temporary gig, until non-time-travelling Aaron is old enough to run the island himself? Or maybe they are actually candidates for something else, such as to destroy MIB (Smlocke). That is, maybe the "rules" say Jacob can't destroy MIB himself (like vice versa), so he is looking for candidates to destroy MIB on his behalf.

On the other hand, if we assume Rules-of-the-Island boy is time travelling, it could just as easily be Jacob himself, time-travelling from hundreds of years ago when he was alive (and a boy). Or time-travelling Sawyer, assuming Sawyer would be able to see, but not necessarily recognize, himself as a kid and assuming two different blonde child actors were both supposed to be young James Ford at about 8 and 12 years old. ROTI Boy being Sawyer seems to be a stretch, but it's worth noting "James" is the anglicized version of "Jacob," which could at least have something to do with Sawyer seeing the boy, regardless of who he boy was.

Finally, a note on Smokey's roller-coaster sound: It sounds like chains being ratcheted (spooled) and unspooled, so that makes me wonder, was "the rack" used as a torture device on pirate ships? (Maybe Richard and MIB were on opposite sides of an interrogation at one time?) If not the rack, there's still the mechanisms for raising and dropping anchors, so I suspect some kind of tie to a pirate ship for MIB (although we assume he was on the island and saw the Black Rock arriving). The sound may just be tied to him because of his "history," like a ghost appearing with chains can somehow make chain-clinking sounds.

On the other hand (again), maybe ratcheting chains are used to open up small hatches in the ground were Smokey can pop out (the sound seems to start before he appears). Or maybe his "tail" is somehow bound by chains even though the rest of him is smoke. (We've never seen that tail end, have we?)